


Tartan

by lyricwritesprose



Series: Tales of the Them [6]
Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Ficlet, Gen, Tartan, a little bit of Aziraphale/Crowley
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:14:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21785053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyricwritesprose/pseuds/lyricwritesprose
Summary: Crowley gets a new insight into Aziraphale's fashion ideas.
Series: Tales of the Them [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1536700
Comments: 73
Kudos: 340
Collections: Lyric's Emergency Fluff Collection





	Tartan

**Author's Note:**

> This ficlet is spun off a minor plot point in Ophidiophobia and may not make a lot of sense without reading that story. For those who don't want to go back and look at that story, the basic situation is this: at the climax of the story, Aziraphale had to miracle Pepper a new shirt. The specific _kind_ of shirt is perhaps a bit predictable to anyone who pays attention to Aziraphale's fashion choices.
> 
> The fic is probably partially inspired by "Another Shade of Tartan" by YiHa. That fic is here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21150602

“Bit presumptuous, isn’t it?” Crowley said quietly to Aziraphale, looking over at the Them and an amateur ballistics project that was definitely going to lead to entertainment, if not outright chaos.

“What is?”

“Miracling Pepper that shirt.”

The shirt in question was flannel, and tartan, and Crowley had no doubt that it would be one of the most comfortable pieces of clothing that Pepper had ever owned. Aziraphale had created it for her during the Thing With The Snake, and she apparently liked it enough to wear it again.

Of course, she wouldn’t understand the symbolism, would she?

“I don’t see why,” Aziraphale said. “It’s just an expression of respect. And, and fondness. A sort of—acknowledgment of family.”

There were evidently things that Aziraphale still didn’t understand. “Not everyone wants to be part of Heaven’s ‘family,’ angel."

Aziraphale looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you, marking people with Heaven's tartan, when they might not  _ want _ to be marked for Heaven." Like Crowley himself.

What was the meaning in that? That Crowley didn't properly belong to Hell, so he should belong to Heaven? That was  _ insulting. _ And Crowley didn't want to start an argument over it, because no punishment in Hell was as bad as the wobbly expression Aziraphale made when he was upset, but this was important—

"That's not Heaven's tartan," Aziraphale said.

"What? Whose is it?"

"Mine," Aziraphale said. "I had it commissioned, oh, centuries ago."

A number of things abruptly snapped into a new context.

Not  _ this thermos is full of holy water,  _ but  _ this thermos is from me. Please think of me before you do anything rash with it. _

Not  _ Pepper is worthy of Heaven, _ but  _ I claim Pepper as one of my own. _

Not  _ I will wear Heaven's tartan into Hell to give me strength,  _ but,  _ you see this demon? He is  _ mine.  _ Fuck with him and I will see that you spend the rest of eternity pissing yourself at the mere mention of a rubber duck. _

Crowley found himself grinning, the way he did when Aziraphale did something delightfully surprising. “You’re being  _ territorial.” _

“I most certainly am not.”

“These are my humans, this is my demon, this is my home with my sofa in it—you are, you’re being territorial.” Aziraphale looked irritated, a particular irritated look that Crowley found so charming that he provoked it occasionally on purpose by doing things like claiming to enjoy Dan Brown. “I bet you’ve been plotting how to slip a bit of tartan to Adam and Brian and Wensley, too.”

“I have not.”

“Well, if you don’t want my help . . .”

There was a long pause.

Then Aziraphale said, “I didn’t say that.”

Crowley grinned even more broadly.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Multivoice Podfic] Tartan](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25442050) by [AirgiPodSLV (AirgiodSLV)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AirgiodSLV/pseuds/AirgiPodSLV), [Djapchan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Djapchan/pseuds/Djapchan), [mahons_ondine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mahons_ondine/pseuds/mahons_ondine), [Tipsy_Kitty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tipsy_Kitty/pseuds/Tipsy_Kitty)




End file.
